


underused lacrimal glands

by orphan_account



Category: Homestuck
Genre: F/M, Fluff, crying kids
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-18
Updated: 2013-07-18
Packaged: 2017-12-20 14:37:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,191
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/888421
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>john hears a sound and finds jade crying alone</p>
            </blockquote>





	underused lacrimal glands

**Author's Note:**

> haha I can't even look at this anymore I don't know how to write titles please comment if you liked it uwu

"Auuugh..."

John rubs at his eyes as he stumbles through the ship. Finally, he finds a kitchen of sorts, though not without tripping over more than a few sleeping consorts. Downing his ‘SW33T LOOT’ of a refreshing glass of water, he makes his stumbling way back in the direction of his on-ship bedroom. Jade had offered to zap him back to his planet and his house, but he just isn’t ready to face all those empty Dad-less rooms yet.

“Hmmph, where am I?” Lost in his thoughts, John has gone deeper in to the ship than intended, and- Hey what was that?

Slightly more awake and with his curiosity piqued, John blinks owlishly through his glasses and heads towards the source of the noise, ignoring quiet nakking and glubbing from consorts in various stages of awakening. Behind this door… Is it the sound of laughing or sobbing? It is so darn quiet, as if the noise is being kept secret.

Could it be? He carefully inches the door open and peeks through the gap.

There is Jade: her hair messy, her dog ears flat against her head. She seems to be fighting herself, fists clenching and unclenching at the end of arms facing outwards as if prostrating herself to the horrorterrors. Her shoulders are shaking and her god-tier garb is a mess around her kneeling legs. But it is her face that breaks him.  Tears stream down her cheeks, leaving marks that remind him of raindrop races on rainy-day school bus rides. Snot pours from her nose, collecting above her mouth. Her mouth…

It is twisted into the most gruesome parody of a smile John has ever seen. She is trying so hard to fight her sadness, trying to smile through her pain, teeth clenching between sobs, and at that moment John feels a rush of emotions that nearly bowls him over.  He thinks of all the smiling emoticons that peppered her pesterlogs, wondering just how he could have known if they hadn’t meant a smile like _this_ and he can’t just stand there anymore.

He runs into the room, drops to the ground and flings his arms around her. She yelps, not having seen him through the film of tears in her eyes, and her sobbing comes harder as she chokes out “I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” His only response is to squeeze her tighter, her shaking shoulders eventually accepting the comfort and leaning into him. Her fists move to clench and unclench in his shirt at his lower back and eventually, slowly in bursts reflecting the screaming argument in her head, she lets her forehead drop against his shoulder, meaning she is now sobbing into his shirt.

Assured now that she won’t suddenly zap out to be alone, he begins rubbing small circles into her back, hoping that she would trust him enough to start talking.

Her sobbing becomes less feverish, her gulping breaths less shaky, beginning to get control of herself.

“I’m n- no better than my stupid dreamself was! There’s no use in crying, I n- need to just suck it u-”

“Shh! It’s okay to cry, Jade. We’ve been through a bunch of stuff. My dad always told me it was better to cry than to hold it in, as long as it doesn’t stop you from getting things done.  He’d hold m-me while I cried and the next day I’d find a little note saying ‘I’M SO PROUD OF YOU FOR LETTING OUT YOUR EMOTIONS IN A HEALTHY WAY SON’. H- He-“ And now John is crying just as much as her, but it is worth it because she starts to speak.

“John- John, I was alone for so long. But it was okay because I knew I was going to see you guys. We were gonna have adventures together, the clouds told me.” She squeezes tighter, her face mushed against his collarbone. “B- But then it actually happened.  We entered the game and the world was destroyed and we can’t go back and everyone is sad I wanted to have fun together but I just bought pain. I watched Dave die – I _killed_ him! Sure he came back, but I can’t just get over that.“ Her sobbing is intensifying again. “And now we’re stuck on this _fucking_ ship for three years and I have all these crazy powers which are completely useless right now and fucking dammit I just wanted to see my friends!”

She lifts her head to see his eyes running with tears.  She brings her face closer to his, her breath washing over his cheeks. His heart rate picks up.

Then her tongue is on his face, licking up his tears, warm and wet and just a little bit gross.

When she has licked all around his eyes and cheeks and is satisfied with her job, she leans back, her hands on his knees and all he can do is blink at her.

“When I got sad – when Grandpa died, when I fell over, when there was something I couldn’t do and I thought I’d die out there all alone – Bec would pick me up, my  shirt in his teeth, or nudge me with his nose and then curl up around me and I’d hold my fingers in his fur.” John notices her hands are doing the clenching thing again and he folds his own around them as she continues. “He’d sniff around at me with his wet nose and then lick away my tears.” The smile on her face is real, if sad, and all he can think about is how she was all alone on an island with just a dog and her dreams and a computer.

Nervously, ever unsure of himself, John leans toward her. He fights against himself because this is really _weird_ but he’s doing it for this girl who means the world to him, who has always been so strong. He knows how hard it is for her to reveal her vulnerability in front of anyone.  She trusts him and he wants to deserve that and– Euurgh he just licked his sister’s face. 

“Pff hahha your _face_ John!” Thank _god_ it wasn’t him who laughed first! She grins and her honest smile is like the sun coming out from behind storm clouds and he finds it fitting that the Heir of Breath blew them away.  She’s snorting in a way that is just so _Jade_ , his dad would turn his nose up at that sound, she’s wild and strong and lovely and they’re laughing until their bellies hurt. They’re laughing until Dave Sprite walks in, scrunches up his eyebrows in conclusion, and then walks out.

Eventually they can’t make noise anymore, the only sounds their wheezing, fading to pants as they hold each other, a tangle of Jade’s bony limbs and John’s slightly cushier body. His face is buried in her tangled hair and he thinks that he might just be okay, this trip might not be so bad if he has her with him, in that moment he thinks that he can make it to this new universe and he’ll come out stronger than ever.

 

 


End file.
